Iran fires missiles at Syria after Tehran attacks

Bloomberg

Iran said it fired missiles at IS targets in Syria in retaliation for the extremists’ deadly attacks in Tehran last week, a rare strike signaling Iran’s willingness to escalate its use of military power in the region’s conflicts.
Six surface-to-surface missiles were launched on Sunday from western bases in Iran at command centers, logistic sites and suicide car bomb factories in Syria’s eastern Deir Ezzor area, 700 kilometers (435 miles) away, the Revolutionary Guard Corps said.
The missile operation “is just a very small part of the capability of Iran’s punitive force against the terrorists and its enemies,” the Islamic Students’ News Agency quoted Guards spokesman Brigadier General Ramezan Sharif as telling state TV. “Regional and international allies of the terrorists must understand this missile operation is a warning message.”
Iran had earlier insinuated that the US and its regional ally had encouraged the June 7 attacks on Iran’s parliament and the mausoleum of the late Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, which killed 17 people.

Opposing Sides
Sunni-led Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran are on opposing sides in a series of conflicts raging in the Middle East, and their sectarian rivalry is also at the heart of a Saudi-led coalition’s recent isolation of Qatar, which has plunged the Gulf region into its biggest crisis in decades.
The US and Iran, meanwhile, are supporting opposite sides in Syria’s civil war. Iran is backing President Bashar al-Assad, while the US is supporting a rebel militia and leading a coalition campaign against IS.
The Guards’ missile strike sends a message that extends beyond the fighting in Syria, said Amir Handjani, a non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council research center.
In another manifestation of how the rivalries in Syria are playing out, a US combat plane on Sunday shot down a Syrian-regime combat aircraft south of the town of Tabqah that had dropped bombs near the American-backed militia, according to a statement from the U.S.-led coalition. The Syrian army said the warplane was on a mission against IS militants when it was shot down.
The “flagrant aggression” highlights coordination between the US and IS and “reveals the evil intentions of the U.S. in administering terrorism,” the general command said in a statement carried by state-run SANA news agency.